upend
Americanverb (used with object)
-
to set on end, as a barrel or ship.
-
to affect drastically or radically, as tastes, opinions, reputations, or systems.
-
to defeat in competition, as in boxing or business.
verb (used without object)
-
to become upended.
-
to place the body back-end up, as a dabbling duck.
verb
-
to turn or set or become turned or set on end
-
(tr) to affect or upset drastically
Etymology
Origin of upend
Explanation
When you upend something, you flip it over or tip it on one side. Tell your sister you won't play checkers with her anymore if she continues to upend the board angrily every time she loses. To move the table from one room to another, you might have to upend it so it'll fit through the door, resting it on one end. The other way to upend something is to invert it, or turn it onto the opposite side, the way you upend a bottle of root beer over a glass or upend your school bag and shake the contents onto your bed to find that lost pack of gum.
Vocabulary lists containing upend
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
But there is another more long-term risk that investors should probably be paying attention to — one that could upend a decades-long trend of rising valuations, particularly for large-cap U.S. equities.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 9, 2026
To pull back from that, I think, would upend decades of settled practice and be a real step back for our collective understanding of the presidency.
From Slate • Apr. 9, 2026
Many smaller technology-company IPOs have been pushed off in 2026, as fears about how AI will upend the software industry have sent investors running.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 1, 2026
They and others hope these early decisions could upend how social media giants approach child safety and rewrite the rules of engagement for their youngest users.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 24, 2026
They would upend the Mona Lisa investigation—and they would change the course of modern art.
From "The Mona Lisa Vanishes" by Nicholas Day
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
